


Aftermaths and First Aid

by Dr4conianlaw



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, set after 43, they goddamn. love each other so much though. Fools.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 11:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15290115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr4conianlaw/pseuds/Dr4conianlaw
Summary: Sento attempts apologies, Ryuga attempts to make it clear that it's fine, really.





	Aftermaths and First Aid

**Author's Note:**

> Set post episode 43! Huzzah it's out before episode 44... by mere hours, but,
> 
> you ever wish these two would just goddamn talk to each other? yeah
> 
> (and thanks so much Stella for your help Beta-ing!)

Getting back to Nascita was an awkward affair.

Misora— well, she could have been a lot worse, but Ryuga couldn’t imagine being turned into a smash wasn’t a good time, regardless. And, now that he wasn’t fueled by figuring out where his foolish genius partner had run off to, alone apparently, based on Sawa's hasty explanation after he had woken up, Ryuga’s own aches and pains were making themselves more apparent.

So with two people so thoroughly exhausted, and a third who also seemed worn out, if for less obvious physical reasons— there was a fair bit of the three leaning too hard onto each other, and resultant stumbles. Eventually, though, they made it back to the— well, seaside cafe. That still felt pretty strange.

Misora claimed the bed as soon as they got downstairs, which there was obviously no fighting her on. (Going against both a sleepy Misora and a concerned Sawa? Only the territory of someone with a death wish.) It was fair, anyways. Sawa decided to head back upstairs, to work on something or another on her laptop, leaving Sento and Ryuga on their own.

Ryuga decided his first concern should be taking the time to re-bandage some of his wounds. Getting hit by genius had been bad enough, but heading back into a fight immedietly afterwards had obviously been dumb. As Ryuga went to grab the first aid kit off the shelf, he looked around the otherwise empty base. “Pretty quiet. Did Kazumin and Gentoku head out somewhere?”

“…Yeah. They… yeah.”

That was a suspiciously bare answer. “Oh… did they say where to?”

“...It's fine, I’ll work things out with them.”

…Mark that down as Worrying. Ryuga didn’t want to risk rubbing any more salt in the obvious wound pressing for details right now though… so he took Sento’s word that things would be fine.

Ryuga carried the first aid kit over to the short set of stairs leading to the purification chamber and sat down. (Was that chamber now basically useless? …Or would he be expected to take Misora’s place if necessary, since he was now apparently Vernage’s host? He didn’t really like the idea of having to sit around in such a small area for so long, but if there was no other choice…)

As he sat down he took his shirt off— he was pretty sure some of the bandages that were around his waist had shifted, and he was right, he’d have to redo them.

Sento was hovering around the side of the stage, only occasionally glancing hesitantly over at him. Which, haha, wow, he must really not be in a pretty state, huh. It bugged Ryuga as off-normal though, typically Sento would be over at his desk, working on something, while he took care of his first aid (or occasionally helping out, but Ryuga had been in plenty of scrapes even before being a rider, and was usually pretty adept at treating his wounds on his own.)

It wasn’t hard to identify the elephant in the room though.

“So, that genius form sure packs a mean kick, huh?”

He hoped that by referencing it in a joking way, he could start to deflate the tension, but he saw Sento flinch and his expression darken— “I’m— so sorry about…”

Ok, yeah, no, bad approach! What was he even thinking, he knew how Sento would take any excuse to pile extra blame onto himself, Ryuga was truly a once in a lifetime oaf.

Ryuga tried to shake some of the the nervous energy out, and sat up a little straighter, folding his legs up closer to him onto the stairs. “…Listen— appreciated. But also, look. So, obviously I’m not super pumped about having been knocked into a coma. But, well. I was about to murder him, right? And as much as it seems like he deserves it— er, sorry.”

The twist to Sento’s lips seemed seemed especially rueful, but, “…No, that’s fair.”

Ryuga still kicked himself a little for saying that— it should have been obvious it was the kind of thing that seems pretty dangerous to say so frankly to someone already down in the dumps, right? He continued on anyways. “Yeah, ok. But it doesn’t matter how much he deserves it, if he had died then it wouldn’t have been anything to do with deserving it, it would have been because I wasn’t in control of myself. Which would have been. Bad. So. It wasn’t exactly a great situation, but… it probably still worked out for the best.”

From the furrow of Sento’s brow, he must have been thinking to add something— but whatever it was he seemed to decide against it, and the room lapsed back into silence. But a slightly lighter silence, at least.

Ryuga absentmindedly stretched, turning back to the first aid kit. It seemed like a good break to change the topic to hopefully less depressing... although, still pretty goddamn strange.

“Sooooo. I’ve got… a weird alien queen, as a roommate in my head, huh. That’s the situation here.”

Ryuga’s attention snapped back as Sento let out some kind of snorting laugh. “Pft, join the club…”

“…Eh? Club? What club? How’s it a club if Misora’s now unpossessed— ...uh.”

Sento looked rather like he somehow choked on thin air. His hand darted to his hair, and he nervously paced forward a few steps— but after a moment he seemed to deflate, as if coming to some kind of resolution.

“Er. Well. About that.”

…Well, if that wasn’t setting up something wild.

“When I managed to- come back. And replace Katsuragi. Katsuragi never really… Left.”

“For real? What does that even mean?”

“He’s… kinda still here. At the back of my head. He doesn’t really do much… he’s mostly pretty hands off, I think he wants to see what I’ll do, like some kind of experiment. But, yeah, he’s there, and we’ve talked a few times.”

“…Uh. That’s pretty. Uh.” Ryuga felt lost as to what he was… supposed to feel towards a reveal like that. He wrung his hands as he tried to at least find a… tactful? Yeah, Sento had gotten enough of Ryuga’s foot in his mouth for one conversation, he deserved at least tactful. A tactful response.

“So… I guess we’re both in a weird situation.”

Nailed it.

“That’s one way to put—” A sudden jolt of alarm passed across Sento’s face, and his fingers were back in his hair. “Oh. I heard from Kazumi that Katsuragi… he said he was planning to murder you? But, obviously, I’ll never let that happen. Actually, I should probably apologize for all that, huh…”

Ryuga felt the protective candle that always seemed to be burning in his chest these days flare up into a bonfire and— oh, yeah, it was much easier to tell _exactly_ what he felt on this.

“Wha— wait, what are you apologizing for? You literally just said that he’s a different person.”

Sento’s hand had moved down his face, and was now worrying the skin at the edge of his chin. “I mean… kinda, but we still share a brain, and diverged from the same-“

“Diverged! He’s a weirdo who didn’t see anything strange about discussing murdering a dude with his friend, you’re the guy who literally took me in as a fugitive from the government the day we met, and has done so much more since. Far as I’m concerned, you’re even. Really, if either of us has a debt to the other then it’s the other way around.”

For some reason or another, this appeared to clearly confuse Sento. His fidgeting had stopped, and now he was just starting at Ryuga with an expression of befuddlement. “…Still, I should—“

“Nope! No. Bullshit. You’re not Katsuragi, you don’t have to apologize for his personal terribleness. Not your responsibility.”

The confusion seemed to reach a crescendo- before Sento sighed, leaning back on the front of the stage. “…You’re really not budging on this.”

“Never.”

“Well, if you’re going to insist… then we’re obviously both even, by the way.” Sento’s gaze was fixed forward, and away from Ryuga, but there was a slight reddening to his cheeks. “There’s no debt… you being there has been very important. To me.”

Ryuga felt a warmth in his own chest. It was— it was where he had hoped he stood, anyways, but it was nice to hear it regardless. He really was lucky to have a partner like Sento Kiryuu…

“…Anyways, are you done? Or are you planning on remaining shirtless all day?”

Oh! Right! He had been very distracted. No need to admit that though, and while he was at it… “Well~ is that really necessary?” Ryuga’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “The summer has been getting pretty hot~”

“Oh, my god. We just got over Gen-san’s fashion disaster, I can’t let you choose to eschew shirts and plunge us into another apocalypse. I’m gonna go upstairs and start dinner, be dressed by the time it’s ready or starve, musclehead.”

Ryuga stuck his tongue out. “Wow, you bully.”

Still, he was softly smiling as he watched Sento leave, the scientist ascending up the spiral stairs.


End file.
